Observations on Songwriters

In a recent blog we focused on the top ten composers listed in Rolling Stone’s “Top 100 Songwriters”. They were in order: Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Chuck Berry Smokey Robinson, Jagger and Richards, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Stevie Wonder. For the record, Bob Marley, Brian Wilson, and Bruce Springsteen finished just outside the top ten.

Any Rolling Stone list can’t be taken too seriously but some of my readers who looked it up online took serious offense to many of the rankings. Here are some of my random observations on the list:

#98 Otis Blackwell was a rather unsuccessful performer but his songs “Don’t Be Cruel”, “Return to Sender”, and “Great Balls of Fire” live on.

#88, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill wrote “On Broadway”, “We Gotta Get Out of the Place”, and “You’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling”

# 87 Khris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar and All-American rugby player wrote “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”.

Sam Cooke should be much higher than #86. He went from pop hits “Cupid” and “Twisting the Night Away” to subtle social commentary- “Chain Gang”. Then, after hearing Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” he wrote about the Black experience in America: the masterful “A Change Is Gonna Come”

I never knew that #75 Issaac Hayes wrote “Soul Man” and “Hold On – I’m coming”.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan should be much higher than 71.

#61 Jerome Felder/Mort Shuman wrote “Save the Last Dance for Me”, “A Teenager in Love” and “Can’t Get Used to Losing You”.

Talk about eclectic: #46 Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff wrote “Expressway to Your Heart, “Me and Mrs. Jones” and “For the Love of Money”.

Bob Dylan said about #65 George Harrison “If George had had his own group…. he’d have been probably as big as anybody”.

#44 Jimmy Webb wrote Sixties hits like “Up, Up and Away”, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, and “Wichita Lineman” but his most popular song remains the bizarre “MacArthur Park”. Even Webb commented “I don’t think it’s a very good song,”

# 43 Johnny Cash once said to # 33 Merle Haggard, “Hag, you’re the guy people think I am”. Merle’s 38 Number One country hits include “Okie From Muskogee”, “Mama Tried”, and “Here I Am (Come and Take Me)”.

Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia, the writing team central to the Grateful Dead, deserve to be much higher than # 36.

#30 Dolly Parton has written a mind-boggling 3,000 plus songs. She has composed more than 20 Number One country singles and still makes mega royalties from Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you”.

Before his untimely death at age 22, Buddy Holly composed many great songs including “Words of Love” and “Not Fade Away”.

The Who’s mercurial Pete Townsend tied Buddy for 29th place.

“You Really Got Me” and “”Sunny Afternoon,” just scratch the surface of Ray Davies’ greatness (#27)

#26 James Brown was a masterful arranger and composer. He often created songs on the fly, scrawling lyrics on a paper bag (“Sex Machine”) or a cocktail napkin (“Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud”).

# 20 Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote “Jailhouse Rock”, “Love Potion #9”, and “Kansa City”.

#19 Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry composed “Then He Kissed Me”, “Leader of the Pack”, and later — Ike and Tina’s “River Deep – Mountain High.”

I had never heard of Holland and Dozier but they earned their #15 placement with hits such as “Stop! In the Name of Love”, “Reach Out, I’ll Be There”, and “Heat Wave”.

Outrageous Omissions

How could the great Warren Zevon be omitted from the top 100? Well, at least “his hair was perfect”.

Another omission was the duo of Barrett Strong and Norman Whitfield who composed “Money (That’s What I Want)”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, and Elaine Benes’ favorite “War! What is it good for?”

“Absolutely nothing!”

Have a great weekend, If you enjoyed this blog you can find all sorts of music trivia in my book, Get Smarter-Be Amazed. Go to www.tedcurinstories.com to get direct links to Amazon and Barnes and Noble.